Wednesday, May 21, 2014

White Hot Wednesday: butter LONDON Cotton Buds

No, the title of this post is not a reference to Dr. Mindy Lahiri's love interests and/or boyfriends. I mean, sure, I could go there if you really wanted me to. ;) But no, WHW is a miniseries examining (and possibly ranking?) the white cremes in my stash. I've thought about doing this for a while, but now that summer is coming, it seemed like the prime time to do it. White nails always look good in the summer, but in case you also wanted a good white as a base for neons, I hope I can offer a few suggestions in an affordable price range. (I admit I don't understand this because I don't have time for neons that need to be layered, but hey.)

The idea to go through my white polishes was sparked a few months ago when Stephanie told me she was in the market for a good white polish, opaque in two coats and easy to work with. I said I had a few whites in my stash, and that this would be a good excuse to go through them. Why not, right?

So off we go, starting with butter LONDON Cotton Buds. I knew I was going to blog bL for at least one week this month, which is why I reached for this white first. SO GOOD, y'all. SO. GOOD.

Oh, and "cotton buds"? Q-tips, y'all. I don't think this slang is unique to Brits, but whatever.

Three coats with SV for these photos. I used the bL Hardwear P.D. Quick top coat when I actually wore this last month. A review of that top coat will come sometime this summer, promise!

At the end of yesterday's post, I said Cotton Buds was Top 20 material for me. So far, it's the best BLINDING, pure white creme I've ever used! Here's the breakdown.

Formula & application: Cotton Buds was on the thick side, but it was really easy to work with. After you figure out how much polish to load on your brush, it's easy going from there. Wait at least two minutes in between coats to avoid pooling and flooding. NOTE:Amy's review on Gotham Polish mirrored mine in that the second coat covered up any patches and imperfections of the first coat. Read her post!

Opacity: 2 coats, if you're careful. 2 coats never feels right to me, hence the third coat. I know no one wants a three-coat white, but I'd rather have three coats of a good white than three coats of an annoying streakfest, know what I'm saying?

Wear: I wore this for four days using the bL Hardwear top coat. Barely visible tip wear on a couple of nails on my right (dominant) hand, plus one chip on the finger that always chips (right index). Some lifting on the corner of another finger when I scratched myself in the shower at the beginning of Day 3, but the polish stayed on and looked GOOD.

Price: $15 USD on the official bL site and through any bL retailer. I got this bottle in March when Ulta had a 2 for $15 deal going for their 21 Days of Beauty.

Year of release: 2013, late summer/early fall for the Colour Clash collection. (It might have been such a basic collection, but I loved the overall look of all the colors. I have the whole collection except for Cake Hole, which is too warm for me.)

Number of compliments received: What? Don't tell me this isn't a thing. ;) Anyway, I lost count after three. I went to get an eyebrow wax while I was wearing this, and the receptionist at my salon lost her mind over it (my salon sells butter LONDON. Haha). And the lady at the Dillard's Dior counter was reeeeeeeeeally into it. So yeah, I would say this was a hit.

I know that was a lot of words for a white creme, but "concise" is not something I do well on this blog. In college, yep. At work, yep. Here ... heaven help me. That being said, I hope this post gave you enough background info on Cotton Buds to show you why I love it so much! And in case you're still not convinced, know this: I paid $7.50 for it, but with these results, I would have been happy to throw down the full $15.

That concludes my first White Hot Wednesday! As far as a schedule for WHW goes, I don't really have one. My only plan is to post these on random Wednesdays, which should keep us all on our toes. :) What do you think of bL Cotton Buds, this feature, or Mindy's ~diverse dating choices? Honestly, I can't rag on her too much, because my track record isn't exactly ... extensive. (I'm sure you were dying to know that, LMAO.)

Thanks for reading! Another bL polish will go up tomorrow, a polish I was surprised to like as much as I did. What is happening to me?!

All I have to say is Mindy+Danny=TLF. I told my sister that I'd stop watching if the season finale didn't go the way I wanted it to. I wish they'd put The Mindy Project on Netflix b/c I didn't watch the first season b/c I am an idiot.

White is NAGL on me but this kills on you. Please wear it forever, because I can't wear white. One of us has to. You can wear white, and I'll wear all the blackened shimmers.

Dude, number of compliments received is totally a thing. I have a column on my spreadsheet (because OF COURSE I have a spreadsheet, I live for spreadsheeting) that records how many compliments I received.

White polish looks so lovely on you! I just picked up that Put A Coat On base from the new OPI neons collection and I think it's back-up worthy for me! Great consistency (thick but not too thick) and opaque in two coats. I did not expect to be as impressed by it as I am!

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STUFF about me ...

A nail diary powered by Droid pictures, commentary, and LOTS of pop culture since July 2011.

I get really excited about random things and I want you to get excited, too! I talk too much, am a compulsive three-coater and one of the most atypical, ridiculous Virgos you will ever meet. Sterling Meowlory isn't my cat.